Testing of materials by impact



Aug. 8, 1950 J. M. M CORMICK TESTING OF MATERIALS BY IMPACT SSheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 8, 1948 INVENTOR. JOHN M. M CORM ICK ATTORN EY 1950 J. M. M CORMICK 2,518,350

\ TESTING OF MATERIALS BY IMPACT Filed Dec. 8, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

JOHN M. BY M CORMICK ATTORNEY Aug. 8, 1950 J. M. M coRMIcK 0 TESTING OF MATERIALS BY IMPACT Filed Dec. 8, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 2 Q E n: I MAxIMuM 3 ACCELERATION .TIME

' E 1I: 1E| MAx. i ACCELERATION 5- I C 3 MAXIMUM I w VELOCITY I I TIME INDICATOR 53 s5 LA PG 2 ISOLATING TRIGGER I PREAMPLIFIER LIMITER v a 1 INPUT L AMPLlFlER CIRCUIT Y I I IsoLATING TRIGGER I I AMPLIFIER CIRCUIT I I TRIGGER J k 6 i I 5 I (ADDITIONAL SECTIONS AS DESIRED) :5 1E '..11 I A I I ISOLATING TRIGGER M L AMPLIFIER cIRcuIT 55 INVENTOR.

JOHN M. NI CORMICK ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 8, 1950 1 TESTING OF MATERIALS BY IMPACT John M. McCormick, Butler, Pa., assignor to Frank W. Preston, Butler, Pa.

Application December 8, 1948, Serial No. 64,101

' (c1. ii-12) 6 Claims.

Myinveniaon relates to the testing of materials by impact as is herein shown and applied more particularly to the testing of paper board such as. corrugated board used in forming partitions when packing glass bottles and the like into individual cells or compartments. in the. packing case; However, the invention useful also in the testingof various other articles such as glass bottles.

Heretofore-practiced methods of impact testing do not give a satisfactory measure. or cushioning power since. they normally measure only the total: amount of. energy absorbed by the test piece;=this energy frequently, indeed typically, destroys or ruins the test piece. Further this energy may be the. samewhether it is compounded. of a. modest force exerted over a long distance (as it would be in. a. rubber cushion) or by a great force: exerted over a short distance- (as in a steel bulkhead). Either may absorb a given. energy, but for cushioning purposes the former is superior.

A more useful test of the character of. a material and its capacity to withstand shocks or to function as a. cushioning elementis to take a measure of the force exerted during the impact imposed upcn'the test piece, rather than the. energy transferred tothe sample or test piece by a blow thereon. One object of my invention is to provide a testing device and method of the character referred to whereina reading or indication is seecured at the point in which a suspended test piece attains its maximum acceleration, after an impact of known energy has been applied there- Another object of my invention is to provide apparatus and a method whereby successive readings can be had. of the movement of the test piece after a blow has been imposed against the same.

Still another object of. my invention is to provide a means and a method whereby repeated impacts can be applied against a given test piece and successive readings readily secured with re- .is an enlarged sectional view clone of the latch devices or Fig. 1; Fig. 4, is afvie'w taken on the line IV-IV of Fig. I; Fig. Bis a rear end view. of the apparatus; Fig. 6 isa view similar to mgr spect to the force exerted on the test piece duracceleration of a, test piece tested according to my invention, and Fig. 11 is. a diagrammatic view showing the manner. in which the movements of the test piece and its pendulum may be visually shown as respects acceleration at various points in its path of movement.

The apparatus comprises a base plate H upon which are mounted uprights [2' in the form. of

triangular side plates and brace plates 1'3, all

of which comprise the framework of the apparatus. A shaft I4 having spacer sleeves t5--l@ and it is supported in the upper ends of the: side plates l2. A track: bar [8 is rigidly secured to the base platev ll.

A pair of pendulum hangers to are supported at their upper ends by the. outer races of ball bearing assemblies that are, in turn, carried by the shaft [1 in the manner shown more clearly in Fig; 8. Scale marks are indicative of the energy which willbe produced by the penduhim when released at certain points along this ascendingscale. Near their lower ends, the hanger bars [9 carry plates 2 I that are connected by'a cross bar 22 to whichis detachably Con-- nected a platen or impact member 2'3 by bolts and wing nuts 24. The plates 2| extend somewhat forwardly of the arms l9 in order to place the center of gravity in the axial line of the pendulum bars I9.

A block 25 is adjustably positioned along the track [8 by a knurl-headed screw 26' and carries a latch 21 which is pivotally mounted for engagement with and disengagement from the cross bar 22' of the pendulum [-9, so that the pendulum can be released at any set height, depending upon the energy with which it is desired to strike a test specimen.

A second pair of pendulum bars 29 are hung from ball bearings that are carried by the shaft I l. These bars 29 carry a connecting and supporting plate 30 at their lower end, and a second plate 31 connected thereto at a higher plane. These plates 3ll3l extend somewhat past the rear edges of the bars 29 to give the desired balance or distribution of weight, so that when the pars l3 and 28 are in their released or idle positions, they will be approximately parallel to one another, with their longitudinal axes in a common vertical plane.

A black plate 32 extends across the rear edges of the plates and 3i and carries a platen 33 that serves as a back-up or anvil member for a test piece 34 which, in this case, may suitably be of corrugated board or cardboard. The test piece is held against the seat bars 35 by leaf springs 36 whose ends are respectively connected to the plates 30 and 3! by suitable screws as shown more clearly in Figs. 1 and 7.

The bars l9 and 29 are preferably of light weight and can suitably be of aluminum, while the various plates 2 l--22 and the members 3 l-32 which, in effect, function as pendulum bobs are preferably of heavier material such as steel, in order to give centers of gravity at points near the lower ends of the pendulum bars. pactin-g platen 23 and the specimen supporting platen 33' are set well up on their respective supporting plates in-order that the center lines of the platens, when they are in horizontal ,alinement with one another, will pass through the center of percussion of the pendulums, thus minimizing the bending torque on the arms and theresulting flexural vibrations. 'Also when the, pendulum.

arms l9 and 29 are at restin their vertical positionsthe platens 23 and 33 will be spacedapart a distance equal to the thickness of the specimento be tested. These platens are removable to per- Also the im- 4 in the solenoid turns, the duration of current flow being dependent upon the time required for the tubular core 53 of the solenoid to strike the base piece 43, and dependent upon the velocity of the pendulum bob members carried by the hanger bars 29. The latch 33 and the notches 4| serve as a convenient means for determining how far the pendulum bars 29 have been swung under the force of animpact, but this constitutes a, minor feature of my invention.

When the solenoid coil is connected to a registering instrument or circuit, such as an oscillomit the use of other platens of varioussizes and? shapes, according to the character of the specimen to be tested. A stop 38 for the pendulum member 39 is adjustably secured to the track I8 to insure that in case of :unbalanced weight on the hanger bars 23, the lower ends of the barsand the platen 33' will not hang at a point rearwardly of a vertical line drawn from the center lever 42 being pivotally mounted on the bar in scope, yielding a pattern as illustrated by Fig. 9.

By sucha display; the maximum' acceleration is clearly demonstrated. While a given amount of energy can be transferred or transmitted either by a sharp hard impact or byan impact of less intensity which persists for a long time, a better measurement of the force and its effect on test pieces is secured where the maximum acceleration is measured 'as in the-present instance.

Since the mass of the pendulum is constant and since by the laws of physics the force acting is proportioned to the product of the mass and the acceleration, then the acceleration is a measure of the force.

The peak force during an impact has been found to differ widely with different cushions and between successive like impacts against the same cushion (as its structure breaks'down) The device therefore provides a, useful tool for studying behavior, under impact, of cushioning material.

order to raise the latch 39 and permit the pendulum to return from the position shown in Fig. 6.

A base piece 43 is secured to the cross bar 32 and carries a permanent magnet 44. A cylindri cal sleeve '45 is welded to the base piece 43, the sleeve and the mag-net being tilted somewhat on their axis as showniin Fig. 1, in order that there can be closer approximation of a co-axial straight 5 line movement with the solenoid hereinafter described. A small'ring 46-of iron snugly encircles the outer end of the magnet 44, and the sleeve is flanged inwardly slightly at its outer end at49,

in order to provide a small air gap and a concen- I trated magnetic field. V

A solenoid 41 issecured to a hanger bar 48 that is hung from the shaft l4,'on a ball bearing, as

' ments of the pendulumbars l9 and their platen 23 against the test specimen 34 will swing the hangers 29. and :the permanent magnet toward 1 the hanger bar 48, thus inducing flow of current threshold value than the preceding one.

It will be observed in Figs. 9 and 10 that'the acceleration is quite rapid. Fig. "10 shows a typical curve that would be produced where the solenoid is connected to an oscilloscope while the curve in Fig. 9 is typical of a curve produced when a differentiating circuit is introduced into the connection between the solenoid-and'the oscilloscope.- 1

If it is desired to indicate only the' maximum or peak acceleration, a circuit such as Fig. 11-will be used. a

In Fig. 1l,'the input line 53 leads from the coil 4'! to the ampliyfing and signal'or recording circuits.

tive. amplifies the signal and reverses the polarity.

All of the trigger circuits are essentially similar except for 'the bias voltage applied to them.

They are so arranged that they are inactive until the signal voltage applied to them exceeds a certain positive threshold value determined by the bias voltage referred to above. When the thresh-- :old value is reached, the trigger functions applying power to its indicator lamp. Once tripped, the trigger remains tripped until reset manually. Amultiplicity of such trigger circuits is provided, each set to have aslightly higher When a signal is applied, the number of trigger circuits tripped, as revealed by: the number of indicators lighted, is a measure of the maximum height of the input peak. Each trigger circuit 55 isprovided with an isolating amplifier which prevents,

The preamplifier amplifies and difierentiates the imput signal with principal pulse nega-' 7 Each of the isolating amplifiers further assassin 3 the disturbance caused by the operation of one trigger from interfering with another.

An additional similar trigger circuit 56 is provided which takes its input vfrom the output of the preamplifier. At that point, the signal is invertedl iteversed in polarity) The main signal pulse we to measure "is here negative and any reverse pulses in the signal are positive. additional trigger circuit is set to operate on small positive pulses (reverse'din polarity from the puise' being' measured) and is so arran ed that once it trips, it causes the preampl fier to cease to function. the principal input pulse passes through and is measured. The re versed pulse (which always follows the principal one) causes the preamplifier to be shut down, blocking "out any subsequent stray signals which might give spurious indications. j

When corrugated board is used as a test'piece, for example, the first impacts by the platen 22 will find the board rather soft or yieldable and therefore the rate of acceleration of the pendu lum 29 will be small, so that perhaps only the uppermost one of the indicator lamps (Fig. 11) will be illuminated. On succeeding impacts, as the corrugated board becomes flattened and more resistant, the acceleration will become greater, until perhaps all of the lamps are illuminated.

In the testing of hard materials such as glass bottles, the device will be useful because it will register the rate of acceleration and hence the amount of force produced by the impact of the platen 23 and thus the resistance of the test piece to breakage. Platens of various contours other than semi-cylindrical shapes will be substituted for 23 and 33 when desired.

My apparatus provides also for measuring the relative velocity of the pendulums that respectively carry the impact platen 23 and the test piece. The measure of this relative velocity can be integrated, giving the amount of crushin that the test piece undergoes and may be displayed on an oscilloscope simultaneously with the reading produced by the magnet 44 and the coil 41, thus giving a simultaneous measurement of both the force on the cushion and its distortion.

This measure of relative velocity is secured by a permanent magnet 68 that is carried by the plate 32, on the pendulum bars 29. A solenoid 6| having a tubular core is carried by the cross bar 22 of the pendulum hangers l9 and will telescope with the magnet Bil when the pendulum bars [9 are released from the position shown in Fig. 1. As the coil 6! and the magnet 60 make telescopic engagement with each other, a, current flow will be set up in the coil which is connected to an oscilloscope or other electrical or measuring instrument. F

I claim as my invention: a

1. Apparatus for testing by impacts, comprising means for moving an impact member with a predetermined energy against a test piece, a member for supporting the test piece and having a known inertial resistance to movements under impacts applied to one side thereof, means for visually showing the course of acceleration of the test piece during movement thereof after impact thereon, the last-named means comprising a solenoid coil mounted in proximity to the path of movement of the second-named member, and a magnetized element carried by the second-named member, for movement into telescopic relation with the coil through movement of the secondnamed member upon engagement of the impact member with the test piece, to thereby produce device that is energized by said-current.

2. Apparatus for testing by impacts, comprise? ing means for moving an impact member with :a predetermined energy against a test piece, a member for supporting the test piece and having a known "inertial resistance to movements under impacts applied to one side thereof, means visually showing the course of acceleration of the test piece during movement thereof after im act thereon, the last-named means comprising a solenoid coil mounted in proximity to the ath of movement o'fthe secondmameu member, and a magnetized element carried by the second named member, for movement into telescopic relation with the coil through movement of the second-named member upon engagement of the impact member with the test piece, to thereby produce electrical current in the coil, and a plurality of indicating devices that are successively energized by said current.

3. Apparatus for testing by impacts, comprising a pendulum having means thereon for supporting a test piece, a second pendulum movable toward the first member thereon in position to engage the test piece when the second-named pendulum is swung into proximity to the firstnamed pendulum, a hanger bar pivotally supported at its upper end, a. permanent magnet and a solenoid coil carried by the first-named pendulum and the hanger bar respectively, means for supporting the hanger bar with its lower portion in proximity to the lower portion of the firstnamed pendulum when the pendulum is in a vertical position, and with the magnet and the coil in partly separated relative positions, the magnet being positioned for movement into telescopic relation with the coil, through movement by the first-named pendulum toward the hanger bar, under a blow by the impact member against the test piece, and an indicating device that is energized through said relative telescopic movement of the magnet and the solenoid.

4. Apparatus for testing by impacts, compris ing a pendulum having means thereon for supporting a test piece, a second pendulum movable toward the first member thereon in position to engage the test piece when the second-named pendulum is swung into proximity to the firstnamed pendulum, a hanger bar pivotally supported at its upper end, a permanent magnet and a solenoid coil carried by the first-named pendulum and the hanger bar respectively, means for supporting the hangar bar with its lower portion in proximity to the lower portion of the firstnamed pendulum when the pendulum is in a vertical position, and with the magnet and the coil in partly separated relative positions, the magnet being positioned for movement into telescopic relation with the coil, through movement by the first-named pendulum toward the hanger bar, under a blow by the impact member against the test piece, and indicating devices that are successively energized during said telescopic movement.

5. Apparatus for testing by impacts, comprising a pendulum having an impact member thereon, a second pendulum having means thereon for supporting a test piece in position to be engaged by the impact member upon swinging movement of the first-named pendulum toward the second pendulum, and a permanent magnet and a solenoid coil respectively mounted on said pendulums in position to have telescopic movement with respect to each other, when the firstnamed pendulum is swungtoward the other-pen 6. Apparatus for measuring velocity, comprising apendulum member and another pendulumlike member supported for Swinging movement, a magnetized element and a solenoid coil respectively mounted on said members in position to havertelescopic movement with respect to each other, when one of the members is swung toward abutting; engagement with the other member from a point at which the coil and the saidelementare remote from each other, whereby an electrical current is produced inthe coil during the swinging movement, and an indicating vice that is energized by said current.

JOHN M. MCCORMICK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED sTATEs PATENTS I Number Name Date 1,921,833 McGorum 1 Aug. 8, 1933 1,985,478 Yuasa Dec. 25, 1934 2,053,436 Knowles- Sept. 8, 1936 2,210,970 Bonell 1 Aug. 13, 1940 2,237,326 Barry Apr. 8, 1941 2,292,549 Simmons Aug. 11, 1942 2,454,793 Grogan et a1. Nov, 30, 1948 2,475,614 Hoppmann et a1. July 12, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 13,009 Great Britain Nov. 30, 1911 

